When they finally broke from last patch of woodland connected that forest that had been hiding the Iron Watch’s encampment, the distant glow of the rising sun was peaking over the horizon, shining its blinding rays across the landscape in brilliant hues of orange. It was the kind of sunrise people talked about in stories. Yet all that Valen could think about as they stepped out under the sky was whether or not dragon riders were about to descend upon them and carry them away, or worse.

“Don’t worry so much. Our rangers have been watching both the skies and the ground for hours. Riders left Lakevale when it was still light out, under the cover of the rain, but we saw them easily enough. They scanned for you for a while, sure, but once they couldn't find anything nearby they split off across the countryside. Any search parties on foot are easy enough to mislead and guide away. None have passed close by since shortly after nightfall yesterday. If there’s any danger to be found, we’ll spot it before you, and you’ll know when we do,” Ranger Hedrick said, pulling Valen’s attention away from the sky and towards him as he rode up alongside Valen on the right.

The four rangers had arranged themselves with Bardus taking up the lead, a few yards ahead of the main party, Hedrick off to the right, Layne to their left, and Samorr taking up the rear.

Raenelir exited the trees close behind them, shaking his wings out and stretching upon seeing the clear morning sky. He let out a contented grumble to be out from under the covering of the huge trees hopefully for the foreseeable future now and Hedrick shot a quick glance backwards.

“Though, now that we’re completely free of the cover, we might want to talk about what we’re going to do with your big wyvern friend. If he follows along behind us on the ground our foes will be able to spot us far too easily,” Hedrick continued, a little twist of a sigh hitting his lips for just a moment before Valen replied.

“I had actually thought that I would be switching from horseback to ride with Raenelir once we were free of the trees. I know that he can’t exactly stay with us on the ground, so…” Valen said, and at his words Hedrick gave him a strange look that he could only describe as thoughtful before he turned back to the front of their party.

“Just a moment, Valen,” the ranger said, before flicking his reins and riding ahead to come apace with Second Ranger Bardus. Valen was not sure what to make of that. There were several reasons he wished to switch over to riding with Raenelir and his fear of them being spotted more easily with the wyvern following along on the ground was only one of those reasons.

The fact of the matter was, he had gotten used to riding on Raen’s back as they travelled. It had only been a short while, really, since they had been forced to flee their home upon the Highborn’s back. Yet he had adjusted to the rush of flying and even the chafing of his legs against the drake’s scaled back. It still hurt when he rode with the wyvern, but being stuck atop a horse when a drake might come flying down on top of them at any moment simply made him uncomfortable. Not to mention he had never ridden on horseback before. Any time that he had gone down into town with his father back at the hatchery, it had been in the back of a wagon for the most part, and on foot any other time.

He had no idea how to handle a horse or how to communicate properly with one, especially since the animals seemed extremely skittish around the wyverns. It had taken Hera’s mount several tries before she had allowed his sister on her back, since Aevra remained in her place around Hera’s neck. That was only a little one.

Raenelir had to remain at least a dozen yards back from Samorr’s horse at their rear and even then he still frightened the thing. It would solve a lot of problems if he was able to simply follow along from the sky instead of plodding along on the ground and making the horses needlessly terrified. So he waited, wondering, as Hedrick spoke with Bardus in quick, hushed tones. After about a minute or so, Hedrick broke away and pulled back to Valen’s side once again, while Bardus called out for a quick halt to their ride.

As the other two rangers rode up to speak with the Second Ranger to see what was happening so soon after their departure, Hedrick spoke to Valen to explain.

“I spoke with Bardus and he thinks it does make sense for you to ride along with Raenelir overhead. However, he also thinks it would be wise of us to have a ranger accompanying you in the air as well. Not just for your safety, but because it gives us a trained eye able to pick out any dangers that might be headed our way even more quickly than we normally would. As long as you’re alright with that, and you think he will be as well,” Hedrick paused here, gesturing with his thumb in Raenelir’s direction, “then we’ll go ahead and have you head up. We’ll alternate the rangers riding with you. It will either be Layne or Samorr, though, as Second Ranger Bardus needs to be able to lead the party here from the ground and as much as I might want to, I’m afraid that I’m on the far end of my prime. Learning to ride a wyvern would probably be a bit too much for me.”

It was a lot of information to take in all at once, but Valen thought he was processing it fairly quickly. He took a moment to glance back at Raenelir. His face flushed red for just a moment thinking about riding on the wyvern’s back and having to be so close to Layne, but he knew that what Hedrick said was wise. Having one of the trained warriors up where they have a good aerial view of the land surrounding them was an advantage they could not pass up. Not when the Empire would always claim a similar advantage.

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“That should be fine. I don’t think Raenelir will mind, either. He carried four of us at once out of Lakevale, after all,” Valen replied, after taking those few moments to ponder it. The only issue he could foresee was that so far, every time that he had ridden with Raen, it had been in moments of instinct or in moments when it did not matter where they went, only that they hurried there. Now that they had to follow a group along the ground he hoped that the Highborn would not be too difficult to direct.

That would cause more than its own share of issues, after all.

Valen wheeled his horse around, riding back as close as he dared with the horse toward Raenelir before hopping down and walking the rest of the way to the wyvern’s side. Simon came to join him a moment later, obviously wondering what exactly was going on and apparently coming to find out on behalf of the others as well.

“What are you doing, Val? What’s going on?” Simon asked, earning a quick shrug from Valen before he answered.

“I’m heading up in the air with Raenelir and apparently one of the rangers will be coming with me to keep an eye on us from above,” he answered. To Valen’s surprise, Simon actually nodded as if he had been expecting that.

“Makes a lot of sense. Tactically sound, and makes me feel a bit safer while we traipse across the countryside. I hope whoever goes up with you has a more pleasant flying experience than Sam and I did,” Simon responded, his lips twisting just a bit into a smirk at the end there before something else flashed across his face, too quickly for Valen to understand it.

“Though I hope things don’t stay too quiet…” Valen heard his friend mutter, speaking for a moment as if there was not another person right next to him. Then, shaking his head, he turned around.

“Well, I’ll go let Sam and Hera know... and we’ll be sure to keep your sister close by us, just in case,” Simon finished. Though he was a bit puzzled by their interaction, Valen still nodded his thanks before turning back to Raenelir and closing the remaining distance to the wyvern. The Highborn grew eager at his approach, perhaps sensing Valen's intention, and he could not help the grin that lit up his face at the wyvern’s excitement.

“I know, Raen. I’m sure you’re ready to fly again. I am too,” he told the drake. At his words Raenelir extended his head towards him. With a chuckle, Valen realized that he was waiting for him to reach out and rub his snout. He obliged the wyvern happily, earning a contented rumble from Raenelir.

“Well then, this will be exciting, won’t it?” a voice said. Valen turned to see Samorr approaching. The redhaired ranger grinned wildly as he ran his eyes over the wyvern in eager appraisal. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to fly up in the sky on a drake. Should be a good bit of fun, eh?”

There was something about Samorr that Valen had been trying to puzzle out, something that stuck out to him that he could not put words to just yet, but without a doubt he knew that the ranger was someone he could get along with. He just hoped the young warrior was not too danger prone, because he seemed like he could be.

“I think so, yes,” Valen replied, smiling a bit before turning back to Raenelir and bringing his hand down.

“Hey Raen, you mind?” he asked, pointing up toward the wyvern’s back as he spoke. The Highborn took a moment to look back and forth between Valen’s pointing finger and his back before giving a shake and then lowering himself down far enough for the two of them to climb onto his back. Valen hauled himself up, quite used to this process by now, but to his surprise Samorr clambered up quite nimbly onto the wyvern’s back behind him, smirking at his disbelieving stare.

“What, you weren’t expecting that?” he laughed, before shrugging. “I figure it’s just like doing anything else for the first time. Act like you know what you’re doing, and usually it sorts itself out.”

Valen supposed that he could not really find fault in that logic, though it did not sound like the safest way to go through life. He would not hold that against Samorr, however. He just had one last question before they took to the air.

“So, where exactly are we heading right now, anyway? I know Midaras is our final goal, but that can’t possibly be our only stop,” he asked. While he spoke he watched Layne and Hedrick ride back to retrieve Valen and Samorr’s horses before then leading them back up to ride alongside them in new positions. One rode at either side in the back of the party, with Bardus still taking up the lead, like an arrowhead.

A moment later the rest of their party started moving again, but Raenelir did not follow yet. When the drake looked back at him, Valen realized the wyvern was waiting for his permission to take flight..

“You’re right, of course. Every good journey has a few stops along the way, and our first one happens to be Trinity. It will only be a pitstop, of course; we just have to make sure we have everything we need for the longer road to follow,” Samorr explained, giving a shrug as he finished as if to say he did not really care one way or another.

Of course, Valen knew of Trinity. It was also sometimes referred to as the 'great crossroads' of the South. Three large roads ran out of the little city, one heading Southwest to the border of Manidar between the Drake’s Tail Mountains and the Bay of Scales; one leading North back to Lakevale and the lands beyond; and the third running East to the high, rocky Eastern shores of Parovia and the towns that belonged to some of the toughest men and women in the entire continent.

There would be people from all over there, their business bringing them from all over this side of the Empire. There would also be an Imperial presence as well, but hopefully the rangers knew how to avoid that particular danger if they were leading them to Trinity purposefully.

“Enough of that, though. We should get a move on! We don’t wanna lose the rest of the group, after all,” Samorr said, laughing a bit when he said it, although Valen could tell he was serious. He also agreed that it was time they got into the air. He brought a hand down to rest it against Raenelir’s side. He could feel the wyvern tensing, getting ready for what was about to happen.

Valen grinned.

“Alright Raen, let’s show him what it’s like to fly,” he whispered, and then he slapped his hand against Raenelir’s side. With a snap his wings were fully extended as he leapt, with his full strength, into the air. There was a moment where they hovered and Samorr careened wildly where he sat, not as prepared as he had thought for their take off. The ranger’s hands clamped down on Valen’s shoulders to help him steady himself, but then they were no longer hovering and instead were ascending. Samorr’s unsteadiness was quickly replaced with laughter as they began to fly.

There really was nothing quite like it.